What are you actually
comparing?
CNC controller comparisons — MASSO against the six alternatives that come up most in sales conversations.
Most control systems are sold as a price. A software licence, or a board. What arrives is rarely the whole control system, and the difference between the two numbers is where people get caught out.
Each page below sets out what a working machine takes on both sides, using prices taken from the manufacturers themselves, with the date they were checked. Where the alternative is the better choice, the page says so.
The six comparisons
Start with the one you are actually weighing up. Each takes about five minutes to read and includes a calculator you fill in with your own figures.
MASSO vs Mach3 and Mach4
The licence is the smallest number in a PC-based build. Eight parts against two, with published prices and a cost calculator.
Read the comparison Centroid AcornMASSO vs Centroid Acorn
The closest to like-for-like in this set. What the CNC12 licence conditions, the PC and the display actually add up to.
Read the comparison UCCNCMASSO vs UCCNC
The cheapest licence anywhere in this comparison, issued against the serial number of one motion controller.
Read the comparison LinuxCNCMASSO vs LinuxCNC
Free software with no licence, now or ever. What the build costs when nobody is charging for the control.
Read the comparison GRBLMASSO vs GRBL and open source
Free firmware on inexpensive boards, and a clear ceiling. Where GRBL is the right answer and where a machine outgrows it.
Read the comparison Handheld controllersMASSO vs low-cost handheld controllers
On purchase price this is not a contest. Six questions to ask any supplier about documentation, spares, firmware and support.
Read the comparisonHow these pages are written
A comparison written by the manufacturer starts with the reader assuming it is rigged. These are the rules we hold ourselves to, so you can check whether we kept them.
Prices come from the maker
Every figure is taken from the manufacturer’s own store, never a reseller, and carries the date it was checked. They are reverified quarterly. If a number cannot be sourced, it is left blank rather than estimated.
The calculators use your numbers
What a PC costs you, and what an hour of stopped machine costs you, are yours to enter. The arithmetic runs on your figures, and if the result favours the other product, the page says so in those words.
Every page says when to stay
Each comparison ends with the situations where the alternative is the right choice and nothing on the page should move you. Those sections are not decoration. If one of them describes you, believe it.
What a MASSO costs
One purchase per machine. No separate software licence, no per-machine-type charge, and no licence tied to a component. Prices checked on masso.com.au, 9 September 2026.
| MASSO Complete controller | G3 | G3 Touch |
|---|---|---|
| Core | US$750 | US$1,090 |
| Advanced | US$950 | US$1,490 |
| Professional | US$1,550 | US$2,090 |
masso.com.au, checked 9 September 2026 — see the full controller range
Every MASSO is the complete control system: touchscreen, motion control, and 24 inputs and 18 outputs in one standalone unit. No computer, no operating system, no drivers to keep matched to hardware.
The documentation is public and ungated, so you can read exactly what is involved before buying anything, and the MASSO CNC System pages set out what a full conversion includes.
Tell us about your machine
Tell us what you have or what you are building and what you need it to do, and we will tell you which tier fits and what a retrofit involves. If a MASSO is the wrong fit, we will say so.
Ask about your machine
A few questions. A technician reads it, not a bot.
